Archive for the 'Marvin Sanders' Tag Under 'USC' Category

USC announced the promotion of quarterbacks coach Clay Helton to offensive coordinator and also confirmed the hiring of three assistant coaches and a staff reorganization.

Helton, 40, has been USC's quarterbacks coach for the past three seasons and will retain that job. It's unknown whether he will call plays or whether Coach Lane Kiffin will retain those duties. Kennedy Polamalu, formerly USC's offensive coordinator and running backs coach, did not call plays.

USC also announced the hiring of Tommie Robinson as running backs coach and passing-game coordinator, and confirmed the hirings of Mike Summers (as offensive line coach and running-game coordinator) and Mike Ekeler (as linebackers coach).

''I am excited to have completed the reconstruction of our staff,'' Kiffin said in a statement. ''It was a very exhaustive and thorough process.''

Among current assistants, special teams coach John Baxter will now also coach tight ends and James Cregg, formerly the offensive line coach, will assist Summers with the offensive line.

Marvin Sanders, fired last month as USC's secondary coach, has been hired as the head coach by Loyola High in Los Angeles, according to the school.

Sanders spent one season at USC after three seasons as the secondary coach at Nebraska.

Loyola's athletic director, Chris O'Donnell, told the school paper, ''Although Coach Sanders doesn’t have high school coaching experience, his knowledge of football, along with his vision and core values, made him the best choice. I’m excited to begin working with him as soon as possible.''

USC has hired Mike Summers as its new offensive-line coach, per a report by CBS Sports. James Cregg, who spent the last three seasons as USC's line coach, is expected to remain on the staff in a different capacity.

Summers, 56, had served as line coach at Kentucky since 2010 before joining Western Kentucky's staff last month under new coach Bobby Petrino. USC lineman Zach Banner first ''reported'' the hiring when he posted (then deleted) a welcome to Summers on his Twitter account.

Summers would be returning to the Pac-12 Conference after an 18-year gap. After early-career stops at Kentucky, Texas A&M and Northern Illinois, he served as assistant head coach and offensive coordinator at Oregon State from 1991-95, a time when the Beavers were known for a strong running game.

After four more college stops, Summers spent one season as the offensive-line coach for the Atlanta Falcons, then returned to college for two seasons at Arkansas and two seasons at Kentucky.

In that last job, Summers worked on the same staff as current USC receivers coach Tee Martin. In 2012, Summers was named one of 29 nominees for the Frank Broyles Award, given annually to college football's top assistant coach.

''I'm a Trojan,'' Orgeron said. ''I'm a Trojan and I'm not wavering from that. I'm here. I made a commitment to (Athletic Director) Pat Haden and (Coach) Lane Kiffin and the USC Trojan family.''

Orgeron is three years into his second stint at USC, and recently had his title changed from ''defensive coordinator'' to ''assisant head coach.'' Orgeron's duties haven't really changed, though. He remains the coach of the defensive line and the recruiting coordinator and has the ear of Coach Lane Kiffin in matters concerning the defense in general.

The shakeup on USC's defensive coaching staff continued Thursday with the firing of secondary coach Marvin Sanders, who spent less than a year on the staff.

Clancy Pendergast, hired last week as USC's new defensive coordinator, will also serve as the position coach for the defensive backs in 2013, Coach Lane Kiffin said in a statement. Pendergast has not been available for comment since his hiring.

Kiffin's statement read, ''We wish Marvin Sanders and his family the best of luck. Marvin did a great job for us coaching our secondary and in recruiting. But with the hiring of Clancy Pendergast as our defensive coordinator, we decided to go in a different direction based on Clancy's desire to oversee the defensive backs unit.''

Sanders, 45, joined USC's staff last February after a three-season run as secondary coach at Nebraska. In 2012, USC ranked fifth in the Pac-12 Conference in pass defense and allowed an average of 236.6 passing yards per game. In 2011, the Trojans ranked eighth in the conference in pass defense (276.0 yards per game).

USC might have the potential to hire two assistant coaches. USC linebackers coach Scottie Hazelton will reportedly become defensive coordinator at Nevada when new Coach Brian Polian announces his full staff. Kiffin, under some criticism to relinquish play-calling duties, now has the room on staff to hire another offensive assistant, if he desires.

Don't get too excited about the prospect of Josh Shawplaying cornerback for USC this week, because it might not happen.

Reading between the hash marks Wednesday, my best guess is that Torin Harris will remain the Trojans' No. 2 cornerback at Washington on Saturday.

Shaw said he was a "full-time safety" Wednesday at practice, subbing for Jawanza Starling, who was absent for unknown reasons. If you're planning to move a guy to a new position, you don't play him at his old position four days before the game.

There's a lot being thrown at USC's freshman cornerbacks, Kevon Seymour and Devian Shelton, from formations to footballs. Secondary coach Marvin Sanders (pictured) knows they aren't going to get everything right away.

"So," Sanders said Wednesday, "what you look for is, do they have those intangibles? Are they going to compete at the highest level?'

Seymour and Shelton have left no doubt through three days of training camp that they're willing to compete.

Both have played aggressively against the run, even when the runner is 250-pound fullback Soma Vainuku. At one point Wednesday, Shelton engaged Vanuku, who drove the freshman back about 10 yards. Undaunted, Shelton steered Vainuku toward the wall at Howard Jones Field, stopping just before Vainuku slammed into it.

"I think they're both physical players," USC coach Lane Kiffin said. "It's good to have some length. We've been short here for a while at that spot."

Resuming our series on the top 10 lessons learned during USC's spring football camp:

No. 3 -- The secondary will be vastly improved -- for real this time.

We spent a good deal of time last spring extolling the virtues of the Trojans' supposedly improved secondary after a wretched 2010. One headline read, simply, "The most improved unit on the team." And one of the 10 things learned last spring was this: "The secondary, and pass defense in general, will be much improved."

You wouldn't expect a college player to say something negative about his coach, at least not on the record. So of course the early reviews of USC's new assistant coaches are universally positive.

But senior safety T.J. McDonald had an interesting take on the Trojans' new secondary coach, Marvin Sanders.

McDonald said position-group meetings with Sanders are like being "in class." I asked McDonald to elaborate.

"The way that he's going about explaining the concepts," McDonald said. "He's saying why. You could tell me I have a certain gap, and I'll do it. If I don't know why, it's not much use to me as far as progressing my game."